WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new type of powerful stem cell
made from ordinary skin cells has been coaxed into becoming
three different types of heart and blood cells in mice, U.S.
researchers reported on Wednesday.

They said they had made heart and blood cells from
so-called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells -- which
are transformed skin cells that mimic the powers of embryonic
stem cells.

They said their finding, published in the journal Stem
Cells Express, brings one step closer the possibility of using
the cells to treat heart disease in humans.

Dr. W. Robb MacLellan of the University of California Los
Angeles and colleagues got their mouse iPS cells to
differentiate, or mature, into cardiomyocytes, which are
cardiac muscle cells that contract with the beating heart;
vascular smooth muscle cells, the specialized muscle cells
lining the blood vessel walls; and hematopoietic or
blood-forming cells.

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"Thus, iPS cells could prove a valuable cell source for
applications in regenerative medicine," they wrote in their
report.

Last week a different team reported a similar experiment
using human embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are considered the most powerful kinds
of stem cells, as they have the potential to give rise to any
type of tissue. But they are difficult to make, requiring the
use of an embryo or cloning technology.

Many people also object to their use, and several
countries, including the United States, limit funding for such
experiments.

But in the past year several teams of scientists have
reported finding a handful of genes that can transform everyday
skin cells into iPS cells, which in turn look and act like
embryonic stem cells.